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[J ^resented "^itfi iHe Compfimenh of iHe Saini Xlicdobs 
Sociehj of ide Ciiy of Il2ew ^or^. 

Secretary, 

$$ SQassau Street. 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2010 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/recordofdinnergiOOsain 



Saint Nicholas Society 
of the City of New York 



Record of the 

Dinner Given in Honor of the 

Officers 

of 

H. N. M. Frigate "Van Speijk'' 



8 MAY, 1893 
HOTEL DE LOGEROT, NEW YORK 

Published by the Society 



• \ 



Olft 

Mra. Jullau Jaxiea 

1012 



Douglas Tavlok Sc Co., Printers, New York. 



^"pHE assemblage in the Port of New York, in 
the month of April, 1893, of a fleet repre- 
senting the naval powers of the world, presented 
one of the most striking incidents of the Columbian 
celebration, and the international significance of 
the event renders it of historic importance. As 
an expression of the good-will and respect of 
other nations for this country, it was felt and 
appreciated by every citizen of the United States ; 
but to the citizens of New York the presence in 
the fleet of a vessel representing the Dutch Gov- 
ernment was of peculiar and personal interest. 
The course long since sailed by the ** Half Moon " 
was retraced by the " Van Speijk," and the flag 
which discovered the Hudson once more floated 
over its waters. Tradition and affection alike 
prompted a cordial welcome to the representatives 
of the mother country whence came the founders 
of New Amsterdam, and upon the Saint Nicholas 
Society devolved the duty and the honor of 
tendering that welcome. 

At a Special Meeting of the Society, held on 
the twelfth day of April, 1893, it was determined 



to give a Dinner to the Commandant and Officers 
of the "Van SrEiiK,"and the followino- committee 
of arrangements was appointed : 

COMMITTEE. 
Frederic J. de Peyster, Chauncey M. Depew, 

Chairman. 

Robert G. Remsen, Edward Cooper, 

Stuyvesant Fish, Howland Pell, 

Edward King, Edward N. Tailer, 

James William Beekman, Abraham B. Valentine, 

George G. DeWitt, Henry C. Swords, 

George H. McLean, J- Hooker Hamersley, 

Austen G. Fox, Henry W. Bibby, 

Frederic Gallatin, Philip Rhinelander, 

William Jay, Smith E. Lane, 

Alfred Van Santvoord, Chas. A. Schermerhorn, 

Treasurtr. 

A. R. Macdonough, Banyer Clarkson, 

Secrttary. 



STEWARDS. 

Charles C. Haight, Philip Schuyler, 

T. Matlack Cheesman, Edward de P. Livingston, 

John B. Pine, > Eugene Van Rensselaer, 



Immediately upon the arrival of the " Van 
Speijk" at Hampton Roads, the wishes of the 
Society were communicated to the Commandant 



and Officers, and they having selected the eighth of 
May as the date best suited to their convenience, 
the following invitation was despatched : 



New York, April 26, 1893. 

To the Hon. W. A. Arriens, 

Captain, Commandant of H. N. M. Frigate " Van Speijk." 

Dear Sir: 

The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New 
York beg leave to congratulate you as Commandant of the 
Frigate "Van Speijk," bearing the flag of the Nether- 
lands, on your arrival at New York. 

Descended from a common ancestry, and looking 
back with pride to the name and fame of the founders of 
our city, our Society hail with sincere satisfaction the 
appearance of your frigate on the waters of that Hudson 
which the same flag discovered and explored. 

A committee of our Society is now charged to ask you 
and your officers to favor us with your company at the 
Hotel de Logerot, Fifth Avenue and Eighteenth Street, on 
Monday, the eighth of May, at seven o'clock, at a dinner 
which our members desire to give in honor of your arrival 
among us, and in testimony of our never-failing regard for 
the land which you represent. 

With great consideration and respect, 

Your obedient servants, 

Frederic J. de Peyster, 

President and Chairttian. 
Banyer Clarkson, 

Secretary of the Committee, 

15 West 45th Street, New York, 



To this invitation the following reply was re- 
ceived : 



May 1, 1893. 
Dear Sir: 

Captain W. A. Arriens wishes me to inform you 
that he and the following officers will be very glad to have 
the honor to attend to the dinner you kindly invited us, 
on Monday, eighth of May. 

Respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

A. J. Kleijnenberc, 

Lt.-AJj. 



(The list of officers is printed in full on pages 
8 and 9.) 



Upon the publication of the notice of the 
dinner, much interest was manifested ; and it 
was at once proposed that the occasion be made 
further memorable by presenting to the " Van 
Speijk " a loving cup. The response to the 
circular announcing this project was so gen- 
erous as to enable the Committee to purchase 
a loving cup of silver, richly embossed, meas- 
uring fourteen and three-eighths inches in 
height, having a capacity of nine pints, and 
weighing seventy-five ounces, and, in addition, 
a pair of silver pitchers similar in style to the 
cup. Each piece was engraved with a suitable 
inscription, and the cup also bore the arms of 
the Netherlands and of the Society. The in- 
scription upon the cup was as follows : 

PRESENTED TO 
H. N. M. S.S. VAN SPEIJK 

BY THE 

SAINT NICHOLAS SOCIETY 

OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, 

AS A TOKEN OF THE GRATITUDE AND GOOD WILL 

OF THE 

NEW NETHERLANDS TO THE OLD NETHERLANDS. 
NEW YORK. MAY VIII., MDCCCXCIII. 

The cup and pitchers, standing on ebony 
pedestals, occupied a central place on the Presi- 
dent's table at the dinner. 

7 



^\]£ D inn ft. 



The dinner in honor of the Commandant and 
Officers of H. N. M. S.S. " Van Speijk " was 
given at the Hotel de Logerot on the evening 
of Monday, May eighth, 1893. 

Frederic J. de Peyster, Esq., the President of 
the Society, presided, and the following named 
officers of the " Van Speijk " were present as 
the guests of the Society : 

Captain W. A. Arriens. 

Commander B. de Groot. 

Lieutenant H. VV. L. Olivier. 

Lieutenant S. F. Nolst Frenite. 

Lieutenant G. J. J. Verdam. 

Lieutenant J. A. Kool, 

Lieutenant A. J. Kleijnenberg. 



Sub-L 
Sub-L 
Sub-L 
Sub-L 
Sub-L 
Sub-L 
Sub-L 
Sub-L 
Sub-L 
Sub-L 
Sub-L 



eutenant K. W. Sluts. 
eutenant K. W. Van der Chijs. 
eutenant L. Van Verre. 
eutenant A. N. Van Santen. 
eutenant J. R. Van der Mandelen. 
eutenant F. H. A. Greve. 
eutenant B. H. Van Meerlant. 
eutenant H. C. Steffelaar. 
eutenant L. G. P. Marcella. 
eutenant P. M. A. Bogaert. 
eutenant W. F. Prins. 

8 



Sub-Lieutenant L. U. Commijs. 

Paymaster J.J. Van Diem en. 

Assistant Paymaster J. M. Grullemans. 

Surgeon J. Van der Kolk. 

Surgeon Van der Voo. 

Engineer J. Vegtel. 

Lieutenant of Marines J. M. Ente Van Gils. 

Also the following named gentlemen, guests 
of the Society : 

The Bishop of New York. 

Hon. Benjamin F. Tracy, ex-Secretary of the 

Navy. 
Rear-Admiral Bancroft Gherardi, and two 

staff officers. 
Rear-Admiral A. E. H. Benham, and staff 

officer. 
Rear-Admiral Rhind. 
Commodore Henry Erben. 
Rev. Dr. VanDeWater. 
John R. Planten, Esq., Consul-General of 

the Netherlands. 
J. William Beekman, Esq., President of the 

Holland Society. 
General James M. Varnum, President of the 

Society of Colonial Wars. 
Augustus R. Macdonough, Esq., ex-Presi- 
dent of the Society. 

Also the following named gentlemen : 



lO 



John H. Abeel, Jr., Esq., 
Dr. James H. Anderson, 
W. LoRiNG Andrews, Esq., 
J. Storm Appleby, Esq., 
Ernest Ayrault, Esq., 
Henry D. Babcock, Esq., 
Austin P. Baldwin, Esq., 
Theodore M. Banta, Esq., 
Charles T. Barney, Esq., 
Leonard F. Beckwith, Esq., 
Henry R. Beekman, Esq., 
Dr. John N. Beekman, 
Russell Benedict, Esq., 
Henry W. Bibby, Esq., 
George Blagden, Esq., 
William A. Boyd, Esq., 
Hon. HenryW.Bookstaver, 
Edward S. Bogert, Esq., 
Charles Bray, Esq., 
William L. Brower, Esq., 
J. Adriance Bush, Esq., 
Joseph Bushnell, Esq., 
John S. Bussing, Esq., 
Charles H. Butler, Esq., 
MoTT J. Cannon, Esq., 
John A. Chambers, Esq., 
Banyer Clarkson, Esq., 
Col. Floyd Clarkson, 
Hon. A. T. Clearwatel, 



Rev. Dr. Coe, 
Joseph Cornell, Esq., 
S. D. Coykendall, Esq., 

E. A. Cruikshank, Esq., 

F. H. Davies, Esq., 
John W. a. Davis, Esq., 
Edward F. DeLancey, Esq., 
Johnston DePeyster, Esq., 
Edward DeWitt, Esq., 
George G. DeWitt, Esq., 
William G. DeWitt, Esq., 
Theodore DeWitt, Esq., 
Dr. Francis Delafield, 
Edward N. DiCKERS0N,Esq., 
H. Blanchard Dominick, 

Esq., 
Cornelius DuBois, Esq., 
William A. DuBois, Esq., 
John Duer, Esq., 
Edward DuVivier, Esq., 
Herman LeRoy EDGAR,Esq., 
James J. Faye, Esq., 
James W. Fellows, Esq., 
Nicholas Fish, Esq., 
Stuyvesant Fish, Esq., 
Howard Fleming, Esq., 
W. Henry Forman, Esq., 
Abbott Foster, Esq., 
Frederick DeP. Foster, Esq., 



1 1 



GiRAUD Foster, Esq., 
Austen G. Fox, Esq., 
R. H. Gallatin, Esq., 
Frederic Gallatin, Esq., 
Edward N. Gibbs, Esq., 
Henry E. Gregory, Esq., 
John P. Haines, Esq., 
J. Hooker Hamersley, Esq., 
William G. Hamilton, Esq., 
Henry P. Havens, Esq., 
Rev. Dr. Hoffman, 
Dr. John H. Hinton, 
Dr. Joseph J. Hull, 
William T. Innes, Esq., 
John B. Ireland, Esq., 
Charles Isham, Esq., 
Col. William Jay, 
F. P. Johnson, Esq., 
Theodore P. Johnson, Esq., 
Walter R. T. Jones, Esq., 
Hon. Conrad N. Jordan, 
Lieutenant S. S. Jordan, 
Thomas D. Jordan, Esq., 
David M. Kellogg, Esq., 
Henry Ketaltas, Esq., 
Lieutenant Kilburn, 
Edward King, Esq., 
James G. King, Esq., 
Hon. John A. King, 



William W. Kip, Esq., 
Francis T. L. Lane, Esq., 
P. Van Zandt Lane, Esq., 
John Lawrence, Esq., 
Marshall C. LEFFERTS,Esq., 
Edward DeP. Livingston, 

Esq., 
Gen. John T. Lockman, 
Richard P.Lounsbery, Esq., 
W. B. LocKWOOD, Esq., 
William E. Lowe, Esq., 
Clement March, Esq., 
Peter Marie, Esq., 
Albert Mathews, Esq., 
J. H. McCooN, Esq., 
George H. McLean, Esq., 
James McLean, Esq., 
Hon. Warner Miller, 
James M. Montgomery, Esq., 
Casimir DeR. Moore, Esq., 

D. Sackett Moore, Esq., 
Fordham Morris, Esq., 
Carlisle Norwood, Esq., 
Lewis M. Norwood, Esq., 

E. Benedict Oakley, Esq., 
Thomas I. Olcott, Esq., 
Thomas L. Ogden, Esq., 
J. Seaver Page, Esq., 
Wallace F. Peck, Esq., 



12 



HowLAND Pell, Esq., Edward Schell, Esq., 

Edmund H. Penfold, Esq., Edward H. Schell, Esq., 

William H. Penfold, Esq., Charles A. Schermerhorn, 
R. N. Perlee, Esq., Esq., 

John Jav Pierrepont, Esq., E. A. Schultze, Esq., 

John B. Pine, Esq., W. Watts Sherman, Esq., 

Dr. Charles T. Poor, William L. Skidmore, Esq., 

Mag-Lieutenant Potter, Dr. Gouverneur M. Smith, 

John V. L. Pruvn, Esq., Col. Jacquelin Smith, 

J. Harsen Purdy, Esq., Orison B. Smith, Esq., 

Dr. Edward Quintard, Pierre J. Smith, Esq., 

Edward A. Quintard, Esq., Henry Stanton, Esq., 

William I. Quintard, Esq., William R. Stewart, Esq., 

Frank E. Randall, Esq., Robert Stuyvesant, Esq., 

Henry S. Rapelye, Esq., Henry C. Swords, Esq., 

A. A. Raven, Esq., W. P. Taber, Esq., 

Robert G. Remsen, Esq., Edward N. Tailer, Esq., 

T. J. Oakley Rhinelander, Paul T. Thebaud, Esq., 

Esq., Howard Townsend, Esq., 

Philip Rhinelander, Esq., Henry G. Trevor, Esq., 

J. Harsen Rhoades, Esq., Dr. J. R. Tryon, U.S.N., 

Benjamin RiCHARDS,Jr.,Esq., Herbert B. Turner, Esq., 

John L. Riker, Esq., Prof. J. H. Van Amringe, 

William J. Riker, Esq., Cortlandt S. Van Rensse- 

HeNRY S.ROKENBAUGH.Esq., LAER, Esq., 

Henry Sampson, Esq., Eugene Van Rensselaer, 
Arthur B. Satterlee, Esq., Esq., 

Edward R. SATTERLEE.Esq., Eugene Van Santvoord, 
George E. Schanck, Esq., Esq., 



13 

Abraham Van Santvoord, Frederic C. Wagner, Esq., 

Esq., Col. Alfred Wagstaff, 

Alfred Van Santvoord, Townsend Wandell, Esq., 

Esq., Henry Y. Wemple, Esq., 

John R. VanWormer, Esq., EvertJansen Wendell, Esq., 

Jacob T. Van Wyck, Esq., William Hull Wickham, 
Dr. John Vanderpoel, Esq., 

A. B. Valentine, Esq., Joseph C. Willetts, Esq., 

Dr. Maus R. Vedder, Edward J. Woolsey, Esq., 

George Waddington, Esq., J. J. Wysong, Esq. 

Each officer of the "Van Speijk" was presented with 
a memento of the dinner in the form of a badge, con- 
sisting of a gold cross-bar, bearing the name of the Society, 
to which was attached an orange ribbon, with the words 
" Welcome to the ' Van Speijk.' New York, May 8th, 

1893." 

After having been presented to the President and in- 
troduced to the members of the Society, the guests were 
escorted to the dining hall, the trumpeter and attendants, 
in the livery of the Society, preceding, the Stewards being 
next in order, followed by the President escorting Cap- 
tain Arriens, and the other officers and guests. The din- 
ing hall was decorated with the tri-color of the Netherlands 
alternating with the orange of the Society. A floral model 
of the "Van Speijk" stood in the centre of the room, 
and the tables were adorned with tulips and smilax. 



14 

The followlnor named gentlemen were seated 
at the President's table : 

Frederic J. de Peyster, President of the 

Society. 
Captain Arriens, of the "Van Speijk." 
Commander de Groot, of the "Van Speijk." 
The Bishop of New York. 
Hon. Benjamin F. Tracy, ex-Secretary of 

the Navy. 
Rear-Admiral Bancroft Gherardi. 
Rear-Admiral A. E H. Benham. 
Rear-Admiral Rhind. 
Commodore Henry Erben. 
Rev. Dean Hoffman. 
Rev. Dr. VanDeWater. 
John R. Planten, Esq., Consul-General of 

the Netherlands. 
J. William Beekman, Esq., President of the 

Holland Society. 
General James M. Varnum, President of the 

Society of Colonial Wars. 
Augustus R. Macdonough, Esq., ex-Presi- 
dent of the Society. 
Edward King, Esq., Second Vice-President 

of the Society. 

The Rev. Dean Hoffman having pronounced 
a blessing, the following dinner was served : 



Spiiskaart. 



Clams en coquille. 

POTAGE. 

Consomme De Ruyter. 

HoRS d'ceuvre. 

Radis. Tomates, Olives. 

Timbales a la Zuyder Zee. 

POISSON. 

Truite de Spuyten Duyvil, vert-pre. 
Concombres. Porames Harlaem. 

Relev^. 
Agneau de Printemps. 
Petit pois aux laitues. 

Entrees. 

Ris de veau, Van Tromp. 

Haricots verts nouveaux. 

Asperges en branches. 

Sorbet Van Speijk. 

ROTI, 

Pigeonneaux. 

Salade de laitue. 
Glaces de fantasie. 
Praises. Petits fours. Fromage. 

Cafe. 



Pipes. 



Schnapps. 



Tobacco. 



Chablis. Irroy Brut. 
Amontillado. 



Perrier-Jouet Reserve. 
Liqueurs. 



15 



|3rescntation of tijc Cup. 

During the dinner, and while the sorbet was 
being served, the President presented the loving 
cup and pitchers in the following terms : 

" Captain Arriens, the gentlemen of this 
Society have long been desirous of proving, 
by more than mere words, their deep .feel- 
ing for the old home of their fathers. They 
know how the news of Van Speijk's splendid 
heroism was received in your storied land. 
They remember that your Parliament at once 
voted that : ' So long as Holland is a nation, 
a vessel of the rank of a frigate shall always 
bear the name of Van Speijk.' We believe 
that your glorious little land, which has pre- 
served her independence against all odds for 
more than three centuries, will be able to 
maintain it for centuries yet to come. No 
matter how long the life of your ship may be, 
Captain Arriens, we know that she is destined 
to be followed by an endless succession of 
Van Speijks. As a slight token, therefore, of 
the gratitude, admiration and love which the 
children of Saint Nicholas feel for the dear old 

l6 



17 

Fatherland, I commit to your keeping this 
cup and these pitchers, which we give to the 
frigrate bearing: the immortal name of Van 
Speijk." 

The President, after drinking from the cup, 
handed it to Captain Arriens, who accepted the 
gift on behalf of the " Van Speijk " in a few 
suitable remarks, and the cup was then passed 
around the tables until each person present had 
drunk the toast to the "Van Speijk." 

At the conclusion of the dinner, the Weather- 
Cock was borne into the room preceded by the 
Society's trumpeter and escorted by the Stew- 
ards, and was placed upon the President's table. 
The National Air of the Netherlands was then 
sung by all present. 

iDien J^'eerlanbffcl) Bloelr. 

(DUTCH NATIONAL SONG.) 

I. Let him in whom old Dutch blood flows, 
Untainted, free and strong, 
Whose heart for Home and country glows, 

Now join us in our song; 
Let him with us lift up his voice, 

And sing in patriot band. 
The song at which all hearts rejoice, 
For Home and Fatherland, 

For Home and Fatherland. 



i8 



2. Wc Ijrothers, true unto a man, 

Will sing the old song yet; 
Away with him whoever can 

His Home or land forget! 
A human heart glow'd in him ne'er, 

We turn from him our hand, 
Who callous hears the song and pray'r 

For Home and Fatherland, 

For Home and Fatherland. 

3. Preserve, oh God, the dear old ground 

Thou to our fathers gave ; 
The land where they a cradle found, 

And where they found a grave. 
We call, oh God, to Thee on high, 

As near death's door we stand, 
Oh! safety, blessing, is our cry, 

For Home and Fatherland, 

For Home and Fatherland. 

4. Loud ring through all rejoicing here, 

Our pray'r, oh Lord, to Thee, 
Preserve our Home, our friends so dear, 

Our Holland, great and free. 
From youth thro' life be this our song. 

Till near death's door we stand : 
Oh, God, preserve our Holland long, 

Our Home and Fatherland, 

Our Home and Fatherland. 



The President of the United States. 

The Queen of the Netherlands. 

Our Guests. 

The Land of our Ancestors and the Found- 
ers OF OUR City. 
Holland : She created a State amid the storms 
of ocean ; she defended it against the fury of 
civil and religious tyrants ; she transplanted its 
might and its virtues to the New World. 

The " Half Moon " — The " Prince of Orange " 
— The "Van Speijk." 
One bore the daring discoverer, Hudson ; one 
brought kindly greetings from our kindred across 
the sea ; one immortalizes an act of splendid 
heroism. 

"///2 robtir et aes triplex 
" Circa pectus erat." 

The Army and Navy of the United States. 

The Navy of the Netherlands. 

The just pride of that amphibious race which 
foiled Caesar in its Batavian marshes, drowned 

19 



20 



out the Spaniards before Leyden, and sent its 
conquering Admirals through EngHsh seas. May 
we never meet it but in peace. 

New Amsterdam. 

Well governed when the Dutch governed it ; 
to be again well governed when their descend- 
ants resume its control. 



Gentlemen : We are assembled here to-night 
to do honor to our guests, Captain Arriens of 
the ''Van Speijk " and his gallant officers, as 
the representatives of the dear old Fatherland. 

As I look around this grand hall to-night, 
blazing with our ancestral orange ; at the dear 
old flag of the Netherlands ; at these uniforms 
worn by the successors of Von Tromp, De 
Ruyter and Van Speijk, your honest Knicker- 
bocker faces carry me away from the present. 
It seems as though the mists of two hundred 
and thirty years had rolled away ; it seems as if 
we were once more under the paternal rule of 
Peter Stuyvesant. The tri-color still floats over 
us, and De Ruyter rides triumphant on the seas. 

I almost expect to see, at any moment, that 
door open and the grand old Governor come 
stomping through the room with his wooden 
leg to take his seat at my side and do his part 
in welcoming our guests. The days of New 
Amsterdam, of Stuyvesant and De Ruyter, have 
gone forever, yet we never forget that it was 
Holland which planted the acorn that has de- 
veloped into so mighty a tree. If the Greeks 



22 



and the Romans were right, if Fortune be 
indeed a Goddess, if nothing succeeds like suc- 
cess, then certainly the founders of New Am- 
sterdam were the most fortunate of men ; for 
the enterprise they started is the greatest suc- 
cess in history. The little New Amsterdam of 
De Ruyter's day has become the Rome of the 
New World. Yes, with a trade which Carthage 
could never have dreamt of ; with a mental 
activity and energy and a love of the beautiful 
worthy of Athens itself, and the wealth, splen- 
dor and power of Rome ; our New York is at 
once the Carthage, the Athens and the Rome 
of the New World rolled into one. 

We believe, gentlemen, that the city has suc- 
ceeded in no small degree because of the high, 
broad, bold spirit of its founders. Even sixty 
years ago the city had grown so great that the 
Knickerbocker was lost in the immense city 
which his fathers founded. It was necessary to 
organize this Society even then as the rallying 
point for historic New York. It is not exclu- 
sively a Batavian society. Here historic New 
York is honored ; and, as the children of the 
Netherlands are the oldest New Yorkers, they 
naturally get a warm place at the table of Saint 
Nicholas. Yet blood has little to do with it — 
all here unite in their gratitude, admiration and 
affection for the glorious little land of dykes 



23 

and clams. Our great city boasts many excel- 
lent societies, useful in various fields. All honor 
to them ! But as a social force there is no 
society in the New World which can compare 
with our time-honored organization. 

Forty-one years ago this very month, our 
fathers entertained the officers of the Frigate 
" Prinz Van Orange " with the same hearty 
good-will that we feel towards you to-night. 
We feel as they felt, because the lapse of more 
than two centuries has not obliterated our love 
for the Fatherland. We welcome you to-night, 
Captain Arriens, and your gallant officers, as 
our fathers welcomed the officers of the " Prinz 
Van Orange " in the year of grace 1852. 

I am reminded that among those who are 
with us here to-night is our charming friend 
Macdonough, son of the hero who won the 
battle of Lake Champlain : thus one of the 
children of Saint Nicholas who welcomed the 
officers of the "Prince of Orange" has lived 
to welcome the officers of the "Van Speijk." 

If history teaches any one lesson with pecu- 
liar force, it is that its most brilliant pages have 
been contributed, not by giant empires, but by 
diminutive States like Palestine and Greece, 
the storied republics of mediaeval Italy, and this 
glorious Fatherland of ours. Glory is the child 
not of quantity, but of quality. It is not the 



land which makes the people, but the people 
the land. Judge, then, what must have been the 
force of that people who raised a mere sand 
bank in the German Ocean for one century to 
the rank of the first commercial power in the 
world; and which has kept that mere sand 
bank for three centuries the richest State on 
the Continent of Europe. 

The sails of Holland whitened every sea, 
when Genoa and Venice were totteringf to their 
fall, before the might of England arose. The 
Hollanders planted on the foggy shores of the 
Zuyder Zee an art not less splendid than that 
which developed on any shore of the Mediter- 
ranean, except in classic Greece alone. The 
first scholar of Europe was Erasmus of Rotter- 
dam ; the father of all sound political economy, 
and that my friend Admiral Gherardi will admit, 
was the good Dutchman Grotius. Gentlemen, 
when Holland realized that the pen was but a 
poor instrument to preserve thought, she pre- 
sented mankind with the printing press ; and 
thought became immortal. When Gallileo 
longed to explore the abysses of space, and 
study the stars, he was stayed ; there were no 
means of traversing space and reaching the stars 
until the genius of a Hollander invented the 
telescope, and his work was made easy ; and, to 
teach that the wonders of the vast are not more 



25 

startling than those of the little, she gave man 
at the same time the microscope as well. 

Our Fatherland, gentlemen, was distinguished 
for her devotion to the cause of civil and religious 
freedom. The pages of her history afford as 
bright and shining examples of heroism as any 
which even Greece and Rome can boast. The 
bead roll of her great naval heroes, blazing with 
such illustrious names as Van Tromp, De Ruyter 
and Van Speijk, will be remembered while his- 
tory is studied. The defense of such towns as 
Haarlem, Alkmar, Leyden, not by trained sail- 
ors and soldiers, but by men, women and little 
children, who suffered and died for the Father- 
land, is the noblest story of modern times ; and 
every drop of blood in my body thrills through 
my veins with pride when I remember that on 
two occasions, when the soil of the Netherlands 
was overrun by innumerable and resistless hordes, 
this heroic people tore down their dykes and 
gave back their soil to the ocean rather than 
have it trampled by the foot of the foe. 

Above all. Captain ; above all, gentlemen, we 
New Yorkers hold that the dearest claim that 
Holland has, the one that in the long run will 
fill the greatest space in history, is that she is 
the motherland of our Imperial City of this 
Empire State, and of the great Commonwealth 
of New Jersey across the Hudson, 



26 

All references to New Jersey are looked upon 
as comic. New Jersey has her faults, but there 
is a future before that Commonwealth. She 
has elements of greatness ; and remember, it is 
very magnanimous for me to say so, for you all 
know that I am a New Yorker of New Yorkers. 
Holland has still another claim, not only on us 
New Yorkers, but on America as well. My 
friend Admiral Gherardi is prepared to give 

(Mr. De Peyster was interrupted by three 
cheers given for Admiral Gherardi.) 

Admiral Gherardi says I am quite right. For 
the first time in my life I feel satisfied. His 
approval is sanction, indeed. Gentlemen, as I 
say, Holland has another claim, and a broad 
claim, on the sympathies of America. When 
unwise England banished the noble pilgrims, 
they found a kind foster-mother in Holland. 
There they learned a nobler civilization, and the 
real meaning. Admiral Gherardi and gentlemen, 
of civil and religious liberty. Even Joseph H. 
Choate admits this. I have heard him concede 
it twenty times, and he never would have con- 
ceded it if there were room for doubt. Holland, 
then, is- the mother of New York and New Jer- 
sey, the blood-mother, and the foster-mother 
of the six New England States as well. Hol- 
land made her declaration of independence and 
formed her Union of Independent States two 



27 

hundred years before our Declaration of Inde- 
pendence and our Union was formed. She was 
the model ; and in the main it was on the lines 
of that Declaration of Independence and of that 
Union that our forefathers founded and built 
this great Republic. Holland is really and truly 
the mother of the United States of to-day. 

Captain Arriens, with all this load of obliga- 
tion from Americans to Holland, it is no wonder 
that we welcome you and your gallant officers 
as brothers at a brother's board. No one who 
wears your glorious uniform should ever feel 
himself a stranger on the soil of our Manhattan ; 
for this mighty city, with all its success and 
all its magnificence, is but a monument to the 
genius of your native land. 

The President then announced the toasts : 

The President of the United States. 

The Queen of the Netherlands. 

The flags of the respective nations suspended 
over the President's table were dipped at the 
appropriate moment by an officer of the "Van 
Speijk" and an officer of the "Philadelphia," 
while the toasts were drunk. 



<!Dnr ©lusts. 

Response uy Captain Arriens : 

Gentlemen : Scarcely had our frigate come 
into American waters and dropped her anchor 
in Hampton Roads on the 1 7th of April, 
when my officers and I received a great number 
of invitations both from official and private 
sources ; one of those that we received first was 
that of this Society. I feel myself very much 
honored to have once more the opportunity of 
assuring you all how highly we appreciate the 
extremely hearty and kindly reception which we 
have met with in New York. I express to all 
of you our most sincere thanks for all the kind- 
ness and friendship which has been shown to us. 
I wish to say that it was a very courteous act on 
the part of your honorable Society to offer to 
me and my ship such a splendid souvenir. At 
such a great distance from our dearly beloved 
country it is a great pleasure for us to mix and 
dwell among the members of your distinguished 
Saint Nicholas Society, who, as your much- 
esteemed President has said, must always look 
back with pride upon the mother and founder of 

this city. My officers and 1 think it is a great 

28 



favor for us all, and a great honor to have had 
the opportunity of personally observing how 
much you all stand to the memory of our fore- 
fathers. Proud as you are of that, I believe 
that you may all be justly proud of your fore- 
fathers in this country for all that was done by 
them in regard to the arts, sciences and indus- 
tries. The imposing manner in which your 
country has celebrated the fourth centennial of 
the discovery of the New World by that illustri- 
ous admiral Columbus, has been a great credit 
to you and a great success. 

The fact that such a great number of men-of- 
war ships have been assembled in your waters 
has been a notable one ; fourteen men-of-war 
from whose masts float your stars and stripes ; 
fourteen men-of-war of the most modern appli- 
ances ; that this splendid fleet has been through- 
out the review under the command of so dis- 
tinguished an A.dmiral as Admiral Gherardi, 
of your American Navy ; this event, I say, is 
one of which you can be in the highest degree 
proud. As far as I know, it has never hap- 
pened before all over the world. I assure you 
how deeply we are all touched by your kind- 
ness and friendship during our stay in your 
city. The recollection of the pleasure which 
you have afforded us will accompany us every- 
where, and this souvenir will always remind 



30 

us of the friendship that you have shown us. 
While I and my officers ask you to remember us 
all with your kind wishes, I finish by propos- 
ing the prosperity of the distinguished Saint 
Nicholas Society of the United States of 
America. 



(Jl)c £an^ of (Dur ^luestors anb tl)e iTounbers of 
©ur Citg. 

RESrONSE BY THE ChAPLAIN OF THE SoCIETY, 

THE Rt. Rev. Bishop Potter : 

I am not in the habit of reducing a congre- 
gation to silence in that way (the gentleman 
alluded to the emphatic manner in which the 
Chairman enforced order). 

I confess after your eloquent and exhaustive 
remarks that I am reminded of a painting which 
I think belonged in the famous gallery of Am- 
sterdam representing what is known as Paul 
Potter's Bull. That picture, as you will remem- 
ber, was loaned to the great Exposition of 1876 
in Philadelphia. Somebody standing behind a 
bucolic crowd, who were studying the picture, 
heard a man say to his wife, as he pointed to a 
figure in the group which is partly hidden by a 
tree, "That is Potter hiding behind the tree." 
I feel, I confess, like retreating behind a tree, as 
the President, having assigned to me this dis- 
tinctly historic toast, proceeded himself to say 
everything in regard to the history of Holland 
which needed to be said on this occasion. That 
is the characteristic generosity of himself. No- 

31 



body who has suffered kindness at his hands in 
the reunions of this Society can be otherwise 
than satisfied of his abundant capacity to make 
all the speeches of the occasion. And yet I 
think 1 may venture to remind him and my 
brethren of this Society, that this occasion has, 
at any rate, one rare and prominent distinction. 
It is a festivity — notwithstanding what has been 
said with reference to Admiral Gherardi, who 
has discreetly retired — it is an occasion absolutely 
without the element of scepticism. If you will 
reflect a moment you must realize, I think, that 
that element is necessarily a very large factor in 
all the festivities of this Columbian Celebration. 
We are told that it was Columbus that discov- 
ered America ; that statement is no sooner made 
than we are reminded of the fact that in 1135, 
as there are distinct evidences, the Norsemen 
came to this country, and traces of their settle- 
ments still remain. That still further back than 
that, in the year of our Lord one thousand and 
one. Lief and Bjorg crossed over to this country 
from Iceland, settled in Rhode Island and built 
the old mill, which is conclusive and irrefutable 
evidence, in spite of the scepticisms, of the pres- 
ence of Icelanders on these shores nearly nine 
hundred years ago. 

I had supposed until this morning that these 
two incidents in our early history sufficiently 



impugned the claim of Columbus to have dis- 
covered America. But this very day in one of 
our ingenious and brilliant journals I discovered 
a communication, whose character I sufficiently 
indicate when I say it was signed by a gentle- 
man who called himself O'Shea, which stated in 
the most positive and unhesitating manner that 
America was discovered in the Sixth Century by 
an Irishman from the town of Tralee, in the 
County Kerry, St. Branden by name, who spent 
some ten years on the ocean, and during those 
years landed on these shores. We shall read 
to-morrow morning that It was with considerable 
endeavor of self-restraint that when the other 
day Mayor Gilroy received the Duke Veragua at 
the hotel in Fifth Avenue, he restrained him- 
self from challenging that gentleman's claim to 
represent the descendants of those who dis- 
covered America ; and that it was a modesty 
peculiarly his own that prevented him from 
stating to whom that honor belonged. 

But the charm of this evening, as I began, is 
that, in contrast with preceding festivities, no 
element of scepticism enters here. You have 
not exaggerated, Mr. Chairman, in the language 
which you have used (that is very unusual praise 
for me to be able to give you) ; you have not 
exaggerated the indebtedness of this country to 
Holland. Your words were received, I grieve 



to say, with derision by Admiral Gherardi. But, 
<^entlemen of the Saint Nicholas Society, and 
Captain Arriens, they were simpl)% absolutely 
and profoundly true. 

There are two things that go to make a union 
great. The first the men, and then the institu- 
tions, out of which both men and nations are 
made. Whatever we owe to other lands, what- 
ever may be our indebtedness to the country 
whose tongue we speak, there is, and you are 
right in affirming it, absolutely no question that 
the institutions which are ours to-day are derived 
supremely and prominently from the Mother- 
land of Holland. She it was who taught the 
world how to govern her people by a repub- 
lican form of government. She it was, as you 
have justly observed, who for the first time in, 
at any rate, some fifteen centuries, gave back to 
the world the great and precious principle of 
religious liberty. She it was, a most interesting 
fact, singularly overlooked in historic studies, 
who reintroduced for the first time since one 
hundred and thirty-nine years before Christ the 
use of the ballot in determining the choice of 
those officers in towns and in cities and in 
States by whom she should be governed. In 
the old town called Emden, just across the 
border from Holland — in Hanover, it is true, 
but settled by the Dutch people — there was 



35 

held the first election by ballot of which there 
is any account in connection with municipal 
history, until you go back for nearly two hun- 
dred years before Christ to the Roman Repub- 
lic ; and, gentlemen, when those burghers arose 
and cast their ballots in the vase that received 
them, on that day they spoke the first clear, 
unequivocal words in the direction of this great 
principle of self-government, on which, after all, 
as the great corner-stone, the liberties of this 
land will forever depend. 

And when, still further, you take up the his- 
tory of that illustrious country and put it beside 
our own, nothing is more significant and inter- 
esting than the way in which the influence of 
Dutch institutions and Dutch ideas of gfovern- 
ment appear and re-appear all along this Atlan- 
tic Coast. It is within the bounds of modesty, 
I maintain, Mr. President, to claim for Holland 
that she taught the States on the seacoast how 
to govern themselves. She set us the example 
of government such as was illustrated in Connec- 
ticut under the leadership of men like Daven- 
port, Mason and Gardner, a type which, step by 
step, repeated itself, until to-day it is one law 
and one principle of government from the At- 
lantic to the Pacific. 

We follow out this line and we come to Penn- 
sylvania, to Penn the Quaker ; yes, a Quaker ; 



36 

but where did the Quaker Penn get his ideas, 
those threat ideas on which he founded the little 
Republic of Pennsylvania ? The mother of Penn 
was a Dutch woman ; it was from her breasts 
that Penn drew first that milk of liberty, of 
justice and of equity which made his wise and 
broad rule an example for all time. I might 
repeat this story to the end of the chapter. I 
might trace in our Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives, in our common school system, in the 
form of the city government of our early New 
York, those great ideas which are the germs of 
the civic institutions in which the form and out- 
line of this fair Republic was cast. 

And so, gentlemen, in the presence of these 
facts one comes here to-niorht with a sense of 
profound thankfulness and joy that it is given 
to him to be here in the company of Captain 
Arriens, and those other honored ijuests who 
wear the noble uniform of Holland, and who 
sit about us here to-night, and to say to them 
what we owe to the mother in whose womb we 
took on the outlines of those Republican Insti- 
tutions which are the glory of our land to-day. 



tl)e " ^alf Moon"— ®l)e "JPrituc of ©range"— ®t)c 

Response by the Rev. Dr. VanDeWater : 

Gentlemen : Judging from some of the re- 
marks which I have heard in my vicinity, I con- 
sider that it will be a favor to translate this 
motto, which is not Dutch. The motto is 
appended by the one who slo admirably pre- 
pared the toast, and it became the key to my 
interpretation of the sentiment. Fortunately, I 
had memory sufficient to recall the ode of 
Horace, and to translate it. I remember very 
well translating it first by the assistance of a 
small horse. This is the translation: "Oak 
with a triple breast-plate around the breast of 
him." If that is not a good translation there 
is nobody here to correct me. 

It has so happened that our mother Holland 
has had such implicit confidence in the virtues 
and powers of her sons that notwithstanding 
many years have passed since first she gave us 
birth she has officially visited our shores but 
three times. The first occasion is a marked 
epoch in our great and rapidly developing his- 
tory. The first we knew of the Dutch was the 

37 



visit of the " Half Moon " in 1609, when Henry' 
Hudson, an English navigator, failing to find 
the sympathy and support that he sought in 
England, found in a country that had recently 
acquired its own independence a readiness to 
give him both. It is a singular fact that our 
best product in this great country comes from 
the union of two great nationalities — England 
and Holland. We need never dispute which is 
the greater, since England's greatness is prima- 
rily Dutch virtue. The truth lies in the fact 
that we are the product of both, of England and 
of the country we filially love, and whose rep- 
resentatives are here to-night. Let us remem- 
ber that in every great epoch of our history we 
have received the benediction from the union of 
these two great nations, the English and the 
Dutch. Only in the remembrance of that fact 
can we fully recognize our debt to the Dutch, 
and the glorious fruitage we have from a 
good father marrying a good mother. Even 
Omnipotence could not provide for the human 
race until He had taken from the side of His 
first creation that which was next to the best 
which He had first made. Join to Dutch 
ideas and valor, the English spirit of appro- 
priating everything good and making it its 
own, and you have as a result, America and 
Freedom. In 1609 the " H.m.k Moon" came 



^9 

to these waters ; a Dutch ship, sent by Dutch 
money, with Dutch patronage, armed by a dar- 
ing and skillful navigator, Henry Hudson, an 
Englishman, who knew enough, when he could 
not find what he wanted at home, to go some- 
where else to get it. He went to Holland, 
We are indebted to the Dutch, then, not only 
for the discovery of that magnificent river, the 
Hudson, which, like a silver thread, winds its 
way among our magnificent hills, reminding us 
of the river that flowed from the throne and 
made glad the City of God, but for all these 
wonderful Dutch tradino- settlements between 
New York and Albany, which have given us 
the best and grandest elements which make up 
what we call American commerce and civilization. 
This daring discoverer having wended his way 
up the Hudson River to Albany, and planted 
Dutch settlements along that river, went back 
to his home, and the next year started on 
another voyage of discovery, resulting in the 
bay which to-day bears his name ; and not only 
his name but his body. During a scurvy plague 
Hudson was cast overboard by sailors, who esti- 
mated all too little the qualities of a great man, 
and discovering that no longer was he of use to 
them, threw him into the water, which, bearing 
the honored name of Hudson's Bay, is Hudson's 
grave and monument. 



40 

So iiuich for the first Dutch ship that landed 
in these waters. Many years passed by, during 
^vhich time Dutchmen settled on these shores, 
Dutchmen ruled, Dutchmen here were happy, 
Dutchmen founded all those glorious customs 
and institutions which we count to-day our 
greatest heritage. In the course of time, with 
a liberality which is the characteristic of the 
Dutch, when they found a nation willing to take 
up the reins of government and give them all 
that they wanted, without the burden of the 
care of it, the Dutch relinquished to the English, 
in 1664, the government of New Amsterdam, 
which then became New York. It is strange 
indeed that notwithstanding all that the Dutch 
have done for us, and the pride we have always 
taken in Holland, that a ship of the Dutch gov- 
ernment never again parted these waters until 
as late as 1852. In the coming of the Dutch 
man-of-war the "Prince oi" Orange" to these 
shores in 1852 we touch that which is connected 
chiefly with this Saint Nicholas Society. We 
know from experience that there is no history 
in any of our Public Libraries that tells of the 
important visit to these shores of that second 
Dutch ship, which was the first ship of Holland 
to appear in these waters in over one hundred 
and eighty years, the " Prince of Orange." 
She bore to these shores Prince Hendrick, the 



41 

brother of the then reigning King, William III., 
and through him brought kindly greetings to us 
from our kindred across the seas. To minister 
somewhat to our pride as members of the Saint 
Nicholas Society, and to show what has been 
the amazing increase in this metropolitan city, 
let me tell you that in 1852, your fathers, your 
ancestors, most of whom are dead, sat around a 
table in the then best dining-room that could be 
procured in New York City, that of the Astor 
House, with the tri-color and with the United 
States flag decorating the room, and with the 
visiting Prince as their guest. Together the flags 
waved over the head of Ogden Hoffmann, who 
presided. On that occasion was heard the illustri- 
ous voice of that magnificent man, the greatest 
statesman orator, from Massachusetts, Daniel 
Webster. He spoke to the toast, " The influence 
of the Dutch on the institutions and Constitu- 
tion of the United States." Great enthusiasm 
prevailed, and the dinner, with its speeches, 
created at the time the topic of public thought 
and private conversation throughout the town. 

Forty-one years have passed, and now, on a 
great historical occasion, the occasion which 
celebrates the discovery of this marvelous coun- 
try by Christopher Columbus, the ships of the 
world meet in our harbor. This is our feast in 
perpetuation of that of our fathers. To most 



42 

of us who are lineal descendants of the Dutch- 
men who have continuously lived in this city 
since the latter part of the seventeenth century, 
there is no ship, of all that now adorn our 
Hudson, that appeals so to our sympathies, 
there is none that seems to us so great, not 
measuring its size, but considering its historic 
importance, as that Dutch war ship the " Van 
Speijk." Dutchmen, of all others, understand 
that they should not judge the virtues of any- 
thing b}'' its immensity. Rome was but a hamlet 
compared with modern cities, yet Rome gave to 
the world its ideas of leg-islation and civilization. 
Athens was a village, yet Athens gave us our 
love of art and almost all that we know of cult- 
ure and refinement. Holland is not as large 
as the State of New York, but Holland has 
given us not only that which is excellent in New 
York City itself, but the influence that has gone 
beyond to the Empire State, and further still, 
throughout the United States, to make all that 
is good and glorious in this land primarily and 
essentially Dutch. We look to your ship, sir, 
(turning to Capt. Arriens), not as the largest in 
the fleet, but representing principles the largest 
in beneficent results, which the country that 
sent it has bestowed upon the world. 

When we think of that ship, we are poor 
Dutchmen indeed, if we cannot give thought for 



\ 



43 

one moment to the daring heroism which made 
the name of the ship immortal. In 1830, in the 
Belgic revolution, the young lieutenant Van 
Speijk, who was educated by the charity of 
Holland in an orphan school of Amsterdam, 
stood on the stern of his ship, which had parted 
its moorings the night before and had grounded 
north of the Commercial Basin at Antwerp. 
When he saw the Belgic volunteers come to the 
shore, and thought he heard their chief demand 
that the flag of Holland should be hauled down, 
he answered '' Wait a moment until I go below." 
There, with a heroism that was as remarkable as 
it was essentially Dutch, he put his cigar to the 
powder magazine ; and then, in the true Dutch 
spirit of reverence to his God, as he departed 
this life, knelt on his knees and but for a 
moment prayed ; in an instant the whole ship 
with all on board and many also on land were 
blown up rather than that the flag of Holland 
should be sullied and the ship surrendered to 
the enemy. No wonder a public monument 
was erected to the memory of the gallant 
commander : no wonder that the King ordered 
that from that day there should be a warship 
forever flying the flag of Holland and bearing 
the name of " Van Speijk." 

So, gentlemen, these three ships visiting our 
waters at different times in nearly 300 years, 



44 

commemorate three epochs in our history ; first, 
our birth, then, our young^er manhood, and then, 
I will not say our old age, but to-day these gal- 
lant officers of the " Van Speijk " visit our 
waters and witness our stronger middle life. 

It is well known that at a critical period of her 
history, when England failed to find in all her 
realm an Englishman fit to rule her, she sent 
across the waters for a Dutchman to come and 
reign. William, " of glorious, pious and im- 
mortal memory," crossed the sea and stood in 
Westminster Hall, where was read to him the 
charter of liberties. When asked if by these 
principles he would reign, the Dutchman put his 
hand on the hilt of his sword, and said, in the 
presence of all the nobles, " I will maintain." 
Similarly, we New Yorkers say that the descend- 
ants of the gallant Dutch who settled this city, 
who gave us the best we have, who put into our 
blood the best elements of our American civili- 
zation, are ready to-night, surrounded here by 
the orange, the tri-color and the United States 
flag, remembering all that Holland has been to 
us, to put our hands to the imaginary hilts of 
our swords, and swear, in the presence of these 
Dutch nobles, " W^e will maintain." So far as 
we can, remembering the rock whence we were 
hewn, we will be loyal to our ancestry and per- 
petuate their virtutrs. 



45 

There seems to have been somethinor more 
than human foresight in the arrangement which 
gives to us our national ensign. The tri-color of 
the Dutch has been most appropriately incor- 
porated into the flag of our dear country. I 
beg you, gentlemen and officers of the " Van 
Speijk," to report this back to your government; 
we have taken your three bars ; your red, of 
devotion to duty unto death ; your white, of 
purity of laws and of morals ; your blue, of 
steadfastness and fixity of purpose ; and we 
have added to these bars forty-four brilliant, 
lustrous stars ; so that to-day we spread the 
banner of the United States to your glory as 
well as to ours. That banner is a greeting of 
New Netherlands to Old Netherlands. We 
praise Holland, and bless God that to-day we 
unfurl the banner of this country and see its 
folds resting upon two oceans, waving over fifty 
millions of men, and compassing a Hemisphere. 
Long may that banner wave ! 

The President : The next toast is, " The 
Army and Navy of the United States." Gentle- 
men, the army and navy of the United States 
are well worthy of your quiet consideration. 
We have done our fair share so far in expressing 
our loyalty to the Fatherland. The army and 
navy of the United States need no eulogium 



46 

from mc. They have a long history of glory 
behind them. The last, or most recent, defeat 
of the navy, is that of our friend. Admiral 
Gherardi. He was the doubting Thomas until 
about the end of my speech ; and then he said 
he regretted that his name was not Stuyvesant. 
It would have been a great privilege to him to 
be born in New York, of good Dutch lineage; 
he said, that it was not his fault. In the 
meanwhile, I ask for a glorious response in 
the honor of the navy ; that navy that has em- 
braced one of the three greatest sailors in the 
history of the world ; the three commanders on 
whom historians are agreed : De Ruyter, the 
Dutchman, Nelson, the Englishman, and our 
own glorious Farragut. I will ask Mr. Secre- 
tary Tracy to respond to that glorious toast. 



Response by the Hon. Benjamin F. Tracy : 

In speaking to the toast of the army and 
navy of the United States, I shall call you back 
for one moment from the ancient glories of this 
city under the great nation by which it was 
founded, to a realization of the fact that we are 
really Americans, and believe, above all things, 
in the United States of to-day and in all its 
institutions. The army and navy of the United 
States are living in the present as well as in the 
past, and it is not of their historical aspect that 
I would speak to-night. The history of the 
army and navy of the United States is familiar 
to you all. Our great commanders need no 
praise from me, nor shall I attempt any. I feel 
sure, from the recent events that have been 
taking place in our harbor, that you desire to 
hear of the present navy of the United States, 
rather than of that of the past, and it is of the 
recent progress that has been made in the re- 
construction of our navy that I feel impelled 
to speak. 

Ten years ago the construction of a modern 

47 



48 

man-of-war was an unknown art in the United 
States. Few believed that we could build the 
great marine engines necessary to drive these 
monsters of destruction through the sea. Some 
of our best-informed people believed that it 
would not be possible to organize a force of 
mechanics and artisans that would be equal to 
the construction of these engines in the next 
ten or fifteen years. Such was the prevailing 
belief in 1883, when the first modern war vessels 
of this country were authorized — the " Boston," 
the "Atlanta," the "Chicago" and the "Dol- 
phin." In 1889 t^^ navy of the United States, 
so far as completed and commissioned modern 
ships were concerned, still consisted of only the 
"Atlanta, the "Boston" and the "Dolphin." 
The " Chicago " was substantially completed on 
the 4th of March, 1889, ^^^ so was the "York- 
town," but neither of them had been put in 
commission. When all of the ships that had at 
that date been authorized should have been 
constructed, the United States ranked as the 
thirteenth naval power in the world. When 
all the ships that are now authorized, and are 
in course of construction, are completed, the 
United States will rank as the fifth naval power. 
She has surpassed even Germany, and stands 
now, or will when our ships are completed, next 
to Italy, among the naval powers of the earth. 



49 

It is undoubtedly true that great progress has 
been made in the construction of our ships, and 
in all branches that go to make up a naval force. 
There are now authorized and in the process 
of construction, with those already completed, 
forty-four ships, and in type, ship for ship, I 
think I say nothing more than will be recog- 
nized by all experts who have given attention 
to the subject, our ships are the equal of any 
ships in the world. And, in fact, if I were 
inclined to boast, I should say that, ship for 
ship, they surpass any ships of any other nation. 
The best illustration that I can give you of that 
is a comparison between the ''Blake" and the 
"New York." They are of about the same 
size. The " Blake " and the " Blenheim " were 
intended by England three or four years ago to 
be the greatest cruisers that had yet been con- 
structed by any nation. The "New York" 
followed soon after; she is now completed 
and about to have her trial trip, and it is much 
to be regretted that she could not have been 
present at this Naval Review. The "New 
York," although she is a thousand tons less in 
displacement than the " Blake," I think will be 
conceded by all to be greatly her superior. She 
has a much heavier armament than the " Blake." 
Her guns are protected by ten inches of steel 
turrets, while the guns of the " Blake" are open 



50 

upon her deck. The sides of the "Blake" are 
entirely unprotected, while the "New York" 
has four-inch steel armor on her sides, amply 
sufficient to protect her from all rapid-fire guns. 
She has a greater coal endurance, and I venture 
to predict that she will be a faster ship. In all 
important respects, therefore, the "New York" 
must be admitted to be the " Blake's" superior. 
Then, we have another ship that surpasses 
anything of her type that has ever yet been con- 
structed. In fact, there is no navy in the world 
that has a ship that compares with the " Colum- 
bia" for certain features. She has a displacement 
of 7,500 tons and is designed as a commerce 
destroyer, pure and simple. She is not intended 
to fight, even with ships of her class ; but she 
is intended to prey upon the commerce of any 
commercial adversary. She will, I think, beyond 
doubt, be the fastest man-of-war that has yet 
been constructed. It was upon her that the first 
experiment was made of the triple screw. That 
was an experiment ; when it was determined to 
place triple screws upon our ships, she was the 
only large ship upon which any such experiment 
had been attempted. And yet the Germans, at 
that time about to begin the construction of the 
" Empress Augusta," that is now in your harbor, 
changed her plans, after they learned our plans 
in reference to the " Columbia," and put on 



51 

triple screws. She has proved a great success ; 
and the only experimental feature of the " Col- 
umbia " has been fully justified by the results 
achieved by the German cruiser now anchored 
in the North River. But the great speed of the 
American vessel, and her enormous coal endur- 
ance, far surpass those of any other man-of-war. 
She can steam from New York to San Francisco 
without recoaling. 

We have also a sister ship of the " Columbia," 
the ** Minneapolis," likewise under construction, 
which will give us two vessels of that particular 
class. Then we have our battle ships. Of those 
great engines of maritime warfare we have 
four now under construction, the '' Indiana," the 
" Massachusetts," the " Oregon," and the " Iowa." 
These ships are built to fight. They are pure 
fighting machines, and are designed to protect 
the coasts and harbors of the United States. 
And all experts, I think, will agree that these 
ships of 10,200 tons displacement are equal in 
offensive and defensive power, if they are not 
more than equal, to the vast battle ships of 
England of 14,150 tons displacement. Our 
battle ships have a much heavier battery than is 
found upon the great English ships, and they 
have an equally strong protection. Moreover, 
they have a lower freeboard and hence do not 
present so much of a target as the high free- 



52 

boards of the English men-of-war. There need 
be no fear that these four great battle-ships 
when completed will fail to give a good account 
of themselves at any time, if, unfortunately, 
they should ever be compelled to render such 
account. 

But it is not only in the construction of our 
ships that progress has been made. This pro- 
gress is to be found in all the auxiliary features 
of a well-equipped naval force. Four years 
ago, we had no armor-piercing projectiles, nor 
could we produce them in this country. A 
battle-ship without armor-piercing projectiles 
would be absolutely worthless. I remember, in 
the dif^culty that we had with Chile, which 
was thought at one time to be serious, the 
" Miantonomoh" was just being finished in your 
harbor ; and the press of New York took great 
comfort from the fact that she would form a 
powerful element of defence if occasion required. 
The public didn't know the fact that we hadn't a 
single armor-piercing projectile to use in her ten- 
inch guns. We had to scurry all over Europe 
to find where we could purchase a hundred 
armor-piercing projectiles for these guns. We 
found them and we imported them. But before 
that time we had established a plant in this 
countr)' for the production of armor-piercing 
projectiles ; and to-day we are turning out these 



53 

projectiles in numbers sufficient to supply all 
our wants. Nowhere in the world are there 
better armor-piercing projectiles than we are 
now producing in this country. 

Another and most important step was the 
development of the armor of our ships. When 
the fight between the "Monitor" and the 
" Merrimack " opened the eyes of the world to 
the importance of ironclads, the contest began, 
between guns and armor. It was universally 
believed that the gun was superior to the armor ; 
that no armor could be constructed that the 
gun could not destroy. Yet within the last 
three years we have succeeded in producing an 
armor entirely new to the world, which no gun, 
having reference to the size of the calibre 
and the thickness of the plate, can pierce. If 
you fire a projectile out of proportion to the 
thickness of plate, of course it can be broken 
and even destroyed. But considering the cali- 
bre in proportion to the plate, the Harveyized 
nickel steel armor is superior to the gun. That 
is an American product. We demonstrated, 
at the first public trial of armor plate in this 
country, the superiority of our own manufact- 
ure and the worthlessness of the so-called 
compound armor that has been placed upon 
the English ships. We demonstrated the high 
qualities of our armor so completely and abso- 



54 

lutely that Admiral Hopkins stated during his 
present visit here that England would use it in 
her ships. 

We have thus progressed in the three great 
elements that go to make up naval strength : 
ships, projectiles and armor. Of course, gentle- 
men, we have not a large navy ; we shall not 
have a large navy when all the ships now author- 
ized are completed. We have yet much to do. 
But in quality our navy can compare with the 
three great naval powers of Europe : England, 
France and Russia. We need twice as many 
ships as we now have. It will cost seventy 
millions of dollars more to build and complete a 
navy adequate for our defense. But that money 
is well expended. I need not in the presence of 
such an audience as this, in the City of New 
York, dwell for a moment upon the great im- 
portance of the protection of this harbor and of 
our seacoast cities by an adequate naval force. 
Our army is small. W^e never shall need a 
large standing army, because no power can ever 
successfully attack us upon the land. But a 
naval force adequate to the complete and abso- 
lute defence of our seacoast cities is essential to 
the peace and security of the nation ; and I 
have no doubt that the construction now going 
on will be pursued and followed up until we 
shall have such a navy as our necessities require. 



55 

I have given you, thus briefly, gentlemen, a 
very imperfect and slight idea of the progress 
that has been made in naval construction in the 
last four years. I trust and believe that that 
progress will be continued ; and that as great as 
our successes have been, greater success will 
await us until we have a navy in which all the 
vessels, without exception, are superior to those 
of the same type in any other country in the 
world. 



^\]z '^am of tl)c Nctljevlanbs. 

Response by Commander De Groot, of the 
" Van Speijk" : 

Gentlemen : As a poor speaker and a bad 
English speaker, I ask your indulgence if I 
don't respond to this toast with eloquence and 
fancy of speech. It is a long time since a Dutch 
line of battle ship sailed with brooms in the 
tops as a sign that we had swept all our enemies 
from the seas. Although we may have the 
pride of our ancestors, we have for the present 
not so much to boast of in that way ; for, un- 
happily, Mr. Csesar never gives us any cause to 
foil him in the Batavian marshes ; there are in 
our country no Spaniards left any longer ; and 
the English and all other seas are open now 
to our peaceful merchant vessels; and as our 
wrecks are not outside anywhere, we may enjoy 
all the blessings of peace and liberty conquered 
by our heroic ancestors. Therefore, gentlemen, 
it could not cause any surprise that in the long 
line of battle-ships which pass by the Statue of 
Liberty at the entrance of this harbor, the 
Dutch color swung at the topmast of a rather 
old-fashioned ship. For you see, gentlemen, as 

5(' 



57 

there is no one fighting on the seas, we can't 
spare money for sea-going, fighting ships. But 
I tell you that there was no better battle-ship 
to recall the memory of the glorious days in 
which liberty was conquered by the founders of 
Amsterdam than is recorded of the lieutenant 
who has been named ; when he blew up his gun- 
boat because he would not surrender ; having 
once secured liberty we could live free. The 
people of our land let others fight out their own 
quarrels. We preferred to spend our money on 
railroads and canals and bridges and all such 
useful enterprises, to contribute to the prosperity 
of the people of a free and happy country. But, 
gentlemen, if our country were to be molested 
on its own coasts, or in its own harbors, the 
Dutch home navy would still be ready for a 
fight ; and with the proper means and availing of 
the many natural advantages which the Dutch 
coast offers for defence, we shall then only have 
to show the sterling qualities which you and all 
our descendants in America display in so marked 
a degree : your spirit of enterprise, your courage 
and energy, and then there will be no doubt 
that we shall successfully resist our assailants 
and our liberties will never be endangered. 

Therefore, gentlemen, allow me to thank you 
in the name of the Dutch navy, your Society 
and its members, for preserving all the good 



qualities of the old Dutch land, and which we 
shall only need in a new stru<,^gle for liberty. 
Be sure we '^hall never meet but in peace, to 
smoke the pipe of peace. Gentlemen of the 
Saint Nicholas Societ)-, I thank you. 



Response by Vice-President King : 

The great advantage of being the last speaker 
is, that any little thing that may have occurred 
to you in the early part of the evening as being- 
fit and well to say has been anticipated. De 
Peyster has told you all I could tell you about 
history ; Bishop Potter told you all my jokes ; 
the only way I can revenge myself is by taking 
the toast and using the liberty of the Dutch- 
man, not speaking to it. 

You will, therefore, not expect me to give 
you any long dissertation upon the science of 
government or its comparative enforcement in 
the days of the ancient Dutch in their early 
settlement of the island ; nor of the future 
Dutch, whenever they may come here. If I 
were inclined to discourse upon government, I 
should hardly attempt it ; for I am a man of 
business, and I have high authority for stating 
that as a man of business I belong to a class 
that is not considered desirable in the city gov- 
ernment. But if I were a politician I should 
hesitate to make a comparison between the past 
and the present ; for, as Mrs. Malaprop has 

59 



6o 

tersely and elej^^antly remarked, "comparisons 
are odorous." Like a two-edged sword they cut 
both wa)'s. 

I intended to have inflicted upon you this 
evening a very long speech, but the hour is 
late, and the guests are tired. I will there- 
fore content myself with following the example 
of those who have gone before me, and tender 
in the name of the Saint Nicholas Society, to 
our honored guests this evening, our hearty 
welcome and Godspeed upon their homeward 
voyage. 

The Society then adjourned. 



At a stated meeting of the Society held on 
the first of June, 1893, the printing of the 
Record of the " Van Speijk " dinner was au- 
thorized, and the publication was referred by 
the President to Mr. John B. Pine and Dr. T. 
Matlack Cheesman. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



0014 114 138 7 




PRESENTEDTO 

HNMSS- VAN SPEIJK 

BY THE 

SAINT NICHOLAS -SOCIETY 
OF THE CITY OF NEW-YORK 

'as ATOKEN OF THE GRATITVDE AND GOOD WILL 

OF THE 
NEWNETHERLANDStotheOLD NETHERLANDS 

NEW -YORK MAY VIII AVDCCCXCni 




